Museum of World Religions Taiwan

?Establishing a World Religions Museum is a practical requirement for this era? from which to choose one's religion?. Entering the museum will be like entering a religious department store. This establishment is not age or gender-specific, but aims to meet the requirements of every category of person on the basis of individual needs and experiences.? (Master Hsin Tao, Museum of World Religions, 2003)

The Museum of World Religions in Taiwan was influenced in part by the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, Glasgow in terms of the way it approaches displays however it has a very different religious cultural influence being Buddhist run.  The MWR is based in a department store in Taipei and brings together the elements of shopping and seeking faith with museum attending and actively aims to create a supermarket of faith with something for everyone. It opened in 2003 and projects a vision of ?respect, tolerance and love? to promote the religious ideal of ?love and peace? to an international society.  The scale of building does inspire awe and as the visitor walks down through the introductory section they are confronted with a series of questions projected onto pillars in Chinese and English. These include: ?What was I before I was born??, ?What is consciousness??, ?Why are we afraid of dying?? These are not questions easily answered and indeed not really here.  Rather they reflect the questioning nature of the human spirit and imply that accepting and embracing religion can help the individual to grapple with what cannot be explained or readily understood in this life.

It is a sensual space with floors and walls and textures used to create relationships with the elements and with the physical self. Water in purification section runs down the wall and leaves a permanent puddle on the floor, you can leave your handprint on the wall, and there are sounds and images although little in the way of smell. Signs of the zodiac, hero myths are given the same credence as doctrine as culture and religion merge and ebb and flow. Although the museum also highlights the main world faiths in a serious of alter like displays there is more emphasis on Eastern faiths such as Shinto. Ancient Egypt becomes a belief system as much as a historical account of the way people lived. Oral testimony is used to highlight religious awakenings and video clips show famous faces talking about their faith and encouraging others to make a leap of faith ?In the scientific world and the world of technology you have to see before you believe. In our world you have to believe before you see.? (Participant, M.W.R., 2003)

Love is an abiding theme and in a way that is also promoting self love                                                                            (though not self-interest), learning to accept and meditate. The message is clear: it does not really matter which faith you chose as long as you chose one and without faith (or indeed self love) an individual cannot achieve their full potential as is clear in the following quote. ?Every human being, I think, has a spark of the divine ?what it means is there is a deep conscious within us. We can ignore it, suppress it, repress it but it shall always be there.  It takes something drastic to bring about the change.? (Participant, Museum of World Religions, 2003)

This is at once a museum which reflects the culture that shaped it and a very contemporary and progressive museum which reflects on what it is to be human with or without faith. The museum maintains that with faith is better. In many ways the museums takes a very positivist stance and atrocity, war, and other dark deeds often committed in the name of faith(s) is largely absent although videos do occasionally show dark images of  violence and discord these are not interpreted in the main. The museum does however promote the idea of the ?global village? promoting ?mind reformation? and ?life education? which ?enables religions to be developed in a free and open environment, and outreached to different classes? (Master Hsin Tao, Museum of World Religions, 2003). This then is a religious museum of religion and more so than any of the others. Buddhist services are held in the café space and Buddhist nuns fulfil many of the administrative and organisational tasks.